Life with Dee

Creating a beautiful life...

What I’m Into (July 2015 edition)

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I haven’t done one of these in ages. Seems like a good time to get back in the habit. Since it’s been so long, I’m going to include a bit from the last of June, too. 


Celebrations

  • July, for our family, always begins with our daughter’s birthday. Isn’t she gorgeous?

  • We celebrated the 4th of July at the home of our niece, Leslie, and her boyfriend, Will. 

  • Chris hosted a going away party for his friend, Eli, who is moving to Baton Rouge to attend LSU. We had about 25-30 people here for a campout, music and karoke.
The last weekend of June we attended a wedding in Tulsa then spent the weekend there celebrating our 34th wedding anniversary which was the weekend before. 

Around My Home


We’ve been busy but still made time for several nights of stargazing. Last night we took the telescope outside and looked at the blue moon. Shiloh likes to join us for these quiet evenings under the stars.



Reading

The House on First Street: My New Orleans Story  by Julia Reed

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing  by Marie Kondo

Watching – Movies and T.V.

  • T.V. –

 I bought the first two seasons of The Donna Reed Show for a little old-fashioned entertainment for myself but it turns out that David loves the show, too. Just so long as he doesn’t expect me to start wearing heels and pearls around the house! 

We are also enjoying The Astronaut Wives Club. The history is interesting, of course, but I’m also loving the fashions and home decor. 

  • Movies – 

The kids took David to see the new Terminator movie to celebrate Father’s Day. Absolutely not my thing so I watched Magic Mike XXL instead. 

Last night we watched My Old Lady on Netflix. We both really enjoyed it.

Listening – Music and Podcasts

Our city has been hosting “Music in the Park” several Sunday evenings throughout the summer. I was asked to schedule the musicians. So far we’ve been able to attend two of these and really enjoyed them. 
Food – Recipes, Restaurants and Grocery Hauls
  • While in Tulsa we looked for a sports bar where we could watch Women’s World Cup. We found Fat Daddy’s where I also had one of the best Reuben sandwiches I’ve ever had, as well as delicious onion rings. 
I don’t have any recipes or grocery hauls to share this time but I will next month. Promise!

Out and About – Trips and Events

Featured Blog Posts

Special Moments

  • Karoke in my backyard:

I think that about wraps things up for July. If you write “What I’m Into” posts I’d love for you to leave me a link in the comments so I can read yours. I’m linking up with What I’m Into on Leigh Kramer’s site. 

What I’m Into (November 2013 Edition)

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Perfect reading material for a snowy evening


Well, here I am doing this quite late again. In fact, if I want to meet the deadline to link up to Leigh Kramer’s “What I’m Into” I’ve got less than 2 hours. Better hurry! 


Trips and Fun Stuff


I wish I had something to put in this section but the truth is that between my asthma attack and David’s cold, we didn’t go anywhere for about three weeks after returning from New Orleans. We finally went out for some live music after our big family Thanksgiving meal at my cousin’s and I can’t tell you how nice it was to actually get out and see some friends. I am a rather extreme introvert and generally quite happy at home but three weeks tested even my limits. And here I am stuck at home again because of the snow and ice. Ah, well. As my grandmother used to say all the time, this, too, shall pass. 

Around My Home


You might think with all the time I’ve had at home I’ve probably got a lot of projects done. You’d be wrong but I can understand why you might think that. I’ve only *just* started feeling like my normal self following that rather lengthy asthma attack. I was doing good to just stay on top of laundry, cooking, and general daily housework. But I have high hopes for December!

Reading – Books and Blogs

I haven’t gotten around to reading any more of Forever Chic – by Tish Jett, the book I’m supposed to be reading for our French Chic book club. Must get back to it!

I picked up a book in New Orleans which I’ve been reading:

This weekend I decided to re-read “The Long Winter” by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I generally read at some point each winter if we get snow or an ice storm. Puts things in perspective for me and reminds me how grateful I am for central heat. 



Watching 

The 4th and, sadly, final season of Tremé started a week ago Sunday. I have bought the first and second seasons on DVD so David and I re-watched those this past month. I intended to buy the third season, and I will, but we didn’t get through all of the second season before the new season started. This is our favorite show and it always makes us homesick for *our* city. It’s fun to see so many places and people we know. Several friends have had small parts in the show.

Listening – Music


I’ve been listening to my Change of Seasons Spotify playlist a lot this past month. I always have an ongoing playlist to which I add songs as I think of or find songs I like. I used to do one each month but this one has been going on since the beginning of October. It may well be one of my favorites so far. If you have Spotify you can see it here. 

I’ve also been adding to my Christmas playlist. 

Food – Recipes, Restaurants and Grocery Hauls


I’m trying to think if we’ve been out to a restaurant since we got home from New Orleans. Hmm…nope. David picked up food from our favorite Italian restaurant one night and he got pizza this weekend. I’m due for a nice dinner out soon, don’t you think?

On This Blog


12 Things You May Not Know About Me
A Glimpse of New Orleans
Thanksgiving #1 (with cousins)
Thanksgiving #2 (with kids)

November has been a really quiet and low-key month for us as we recuperated. But as soon as this snow and ice clears up we’ll try to make up for lost time. 

~~~~~



Check out other “What I’m Into” posts linked on Hopeful Leigh and if you blog you can add your own.


Reminder!
Don’t forget the give-away. I’m going to extend the deadline for entering until Wednesday, December 18th because I’ve not taken the time to promote it very well and I want to give everyone an opportunity to enter. If you would like a chance to win, leave me a comment on this post. Be sure there is an email associated with your name so I can contact you if you win. 

What I’m Into (October 2013 Edition)

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 Autumn on Apple Tree Farm

I’m rather late with this but we just returned from our New Orleans trip late Monday night and I’m still recovering. David and I both started with some mild cold symptoms on our way home. So far we’ve kept the crud at bay with regular doses of “The Potion” (I’ll post the recipe at the bottom of this post) but it’s nipping at our heels and adding to our usual post-NOLA exhaustion.

When we left for New Orleans it was still October and the landscape was still mostly green. We came home to Apple Tree Farm swathed in hues of red and gold. It’s quite lovely but damp and cool. I did my best to enjoy the warm weather in New Orleans and even managed to get just the perfect amount of slightly-pink-sunburn on my shoulders one afternoon by the river. Unless we win the lottery and take a winter vacation to the tropics that will be the last dose of color my fair skin sees for months.

So, let’s take a look at what I was into for the month of October:

Trips and Fun Stuff


We took our usual 11 day trip to New Orleans which was an absolute blast. As always. I’ll have a post devoted to that probably tomorrow, complete with pictures. For now I’ll just say that we enjoyed beautiful weather, delicious food, incredible music, and best of all – good times with great friends. 


Around My Home


David installed our new wood blinds in the family room and I decorated for Halloween/Autumn. You can see photos of my decorated house in the post, “Getting Cozy for Fall”.

I also did a post for a contest on Blogelina in which I shared photos of “My Blogging Space”.



Reading – Books and Blogs


Our local library’s annual book sale is always a favorite event for me. There’s nothing quite like a new stash of books. You can see a photo and a list of this year’s treasures on my post, “Library Book Sale Haul”. 

I started reading “Forever Chic” by Tish Jett for our first book club selection on the French Chic Yahoo Group I help moderate. I was in New Orleans for Chapter Two but I’ll catch up this Friday. You can read my review of Chapter One here. 

In addition to “Forever Chic”, I’ve been reading two books this past month:

Watching – Movies, T.V. and YouTube


I’m not sure that we watched any movies this past month. I know we didn’t go to the movies and I really don’t think we watched any at home, either. We watched the first few episodes of The Big Bang Theory on Netflix but otherwise I can’t recall watching much of anything except The Daily Show which we usually watch while eating dinner. 



Listening – Music


I’ve been listening to a lot of blues, both on Spotify and on the Bluesville station on XM Radio in the car. I discovered Solomon Burke on Spotify. I also listened to the new Avett Brothers album.

While in New Orleans we listened to live music every day. We saw John Boutté at d.b.a., as well as catching shows by our musician friends:

We also attended the first two nights of Voodoo Fest where we saw Macklemore, Pearl Jam (absolutely fabulous show!), Gaslight Anthem, Paramore and Nine Inch Nails. 



Food – Recipes, Restaurants and Grocery Hauls


I made two lovely loaves of challah, one for World Communion Day at church and one for us. Yummy! The recipe is on my Breads and Rolls Pinterest board.

Since we would be out of town for eleven days I opted to skip the monthly big shopping trip with my daughter. I focused on using up perishables and made do with “A small grocery haul” from a local store. 

As you might expect, we enjoyed some amazing food in New Orleans. Highlights included dinners at:

Lunches at:

Late night/early morning:
And on our way home Monday night (yeah, that’s November but I’m including it here) we stopped at In-N-Out for burgers and fries. They are fairly new to this part of the country and we don’t have any in Oklahoma (yet!) so it’s a treat. Oh, and I also enjoyed raw oysters one evening – something I had been craving for weeks. 



On This Blog

– I shared my thoughts about family and how we are called to care for one another in the post, “Living in Community”. 

– For the 7th year in a row (since the very beginning) I participated in Blog Action Day. This year the topic was human rights. I chose to write about “Hunger in America“.

– I chose the important over the urgent and spent a little while “Soaking up the sunshine”. 

I’m getting a late start but this month I’ll be doing NaNoWriMo. David has encouraged me to get serious about writing a book so I’m using this as a jump start of sorts. Because of that my posts here may be scanty. And if you follow me on Facebook you’ll find me less prolific there, as well. In fact, if you see me posting much please remind me I am supposed to be writing!


So, that’s what I’ve been into this past month. I’d love to hear what’s been going on in your life. Leave me a comment and if you have a blog, I’ll pay you a visit.

~~~~~



Check out other “What I’m Into” posts linked on Hopeful Leigh and if you blog you can add your own.


*The Potion:
1 oz. water
1 tbls. elderberry concentrate
1 dropper full of each:

    olive leaf
    colloidal silver


3 drops oil of oregano
1 packet Emergen-C



Mix all, adding Emergen-C last. Stir, shoot, chase with more water.


(The original recipe also includes echinacea which I don’t take because I’m allergic to ragweed and they are related, and goldenseal which I just don’t happen to have on hand. I also usually add a shot of vodka to my bedtime dose. I figure the alcohol might kill some germs and if nothing else, it will help me sleep.)

What I’m Into (September 2013 Edition)

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Would make a cool pirate treasure chest

Here it is, October. OCTOBER! So far it still feels like late summer around here but that will change tomorrow as a cold front comes through bringing rain and high temperatures not expected to get out of the 60s. I can’t really complain, however, since several friends have been posting pictures of snow on Facebook today. Plus we’ll be back up to 70 on Sunday and next week looks to be a glorious collection of sunny days in the 70s and low 80s. I’m savoring each and every warm day before it’s our turn for cold weather.

It seems that September just zipped by but when I look back I realize we managed to cram quite a lot into it. Here’s what I’ve been into this past month:

Trips and Fun Stuff


September began and ended with weekend trips. We celebrated my birthday in OKC the end of August/beginning of September. Then we ended the month with a short trip to Kansas City to see Nine Inch Nails.

There were also several nights spent listening to live music locally and in Dallas, as well as a dance party for which Chris was one of the DJs:

We celebrated Talk Like a Pirate Day by having dinner out with friends and then a few hours at the Statesman enjoying live music and celebrating a friend’s birthday.

For the second year in a row I attended an Amish auction with Lisa and our friend, Mary. We had a lovely time, even if those gorgeous quilts are WAY out of our price range.

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Around My Home

Our new sofas arrived and I’ve spent a lot of time on Pinterest gathering ideas for updating the decor in our family room.

I also started what I intended to be a weekly feature – POW – Project Of the Week. I still haven’t finished it. Ha! But hopefully I’ll get my act together and you’ll see more of this feature. 


Reading – Books and Blogs


All You Need to be Impossibly French by Helena Frith Powell

I’ve also read parts of other books this month nothing else that I read start to finish. I really need to rectify that in the future. I used to read so much more. Well, I still read a lot but most of it’s online these days.

Watching – Movies, T.V. and YouTube


David and I finally saw The Great Gatsby. From the moment I first saw the trailer for it I knew it was a must-see for me. I really, really wanted to see it in a theater but it just didn’t work out for us to do so. We borrowed a copy from a friend and watched it one evening at home. I’m always a wee bit apprehensive about film adaptations of favorite books but I was quite pleased with this one. Leonardo DiCaprio gave a phenomenal performance. I even thought the unorthodox music was exceptionally well-done.

We also saw my favorite Disney movie, Mary Poppins, at the local, Main Street theater. I’m really looking forward to the upcoming biographical film about P.L. Travers (author of Mary Poppins), Saving Mr. Banks, starring Tom Hanks as Walt Disney. 

On YouTube, in addition to the usual grocery haul and music videos I like to watch, this month I enjoyed one about an experiment in gratitude and in this one I learned some new ways to tie a scarf. 


Listening – Music


As always, music occupied a large part of my life in September. In addition to local music performances by Rowdy Folk, Mandala, Our Mother’s Martyr and several DJs at the dance party, we also saw Our Mother’s Martyr perform at the Texas Mosh Fest and Nine Inch Nails in Kansas City.

On Spotify, I listened to a lot of blues, jazz and soul this past month. Van Morrison, Keb’ Mo’, Etta James, Diana Krall, and Miles Davis were heavily represented in my listening. I’ve also discovered a new favorite – Ruthie Foster.

AND…I started taking piano lessons! I took lessons for a couple of short periods as a child and for about 6 months as an adult ten years ago. When I heard that my friend, Lindsay, of Rowdy Folk was going to be giving lessons I knew this was my opportunity. I think it’s important to keep learning and growing throughout one’s life and I’m really excited to be playing again.  


Food – Recipes, Restaurants and Grocery Hauls


Now that we are entering a time of cooler weather I plan to get back to baking all our bread again. I usually bake a basic whole wheat bread but since variety is the spice of life I decided it would be nice to have sourdough bread once in awhile, too. I read several blog posts and articles about how to make your own starter and decided on this one. I’ve been feeding and tending it regularly for nearly two weeks now and will be using it for the first time tomorrow. Sunday we celebrate World Communion Sunday at our church and I was asked to bring one of the loaves of bread. We try to have several different kinds on that day. I’ll take a picture of the bread if I remember but here’s what the starter looks like right now: 

Sourdough starter

Lisa and I did our September “Grocery Haul”. You can see hers here. 

I’m drawing a blank on any new recipes I made in September other than a homemade pizza with a really delicious combination of toppings – black forest ham, pineapple, bell peppers and caramelized onions. Oh, my goodness, we will definitely do that one again!

I did pin a few new recipes on Pinterest. You can see my Food and Wine board here. 

I’m trying to recall if we had any out-of-the-ordinary restaurant meals this past month. Oh, I remember one. We attended a very difficult and lengthy funeral for the son of one of David’s employees a couple of Saturdays ago. We were both emotionally spent afterwards and indulged in a late lunch at our favorite local Italian restaurant. We both have our favorite dishes there but tried something we hadn’t noticed on the menu before. It was chicken parmesan in a light cream sauce which was absolutely divine. I will definitely be ordering it again.

On This Blog

– I was one of the hosts for the second annual Celebrating Womanhood blog event. I wrote about the value of a homemaker.

– I wrote three French Friday posts this month. The concept of aging gracefully was the topic of one, another featured a bit about my ongoing efforts to consciously design my own life, and the third focused on my efforts to make exercise a regular part of my daily routine.

– I posted about the changing seasons and how I plan to make the most of it.

Upcoming blog event: Blog Action Day – October 16th

So, that’s what I’ve been into this past month. I’d love to hear what’s been going on in your life. Leave me a comment and if you have a blog, I’ll pay you a visit.

~~~~~

Check out other “What I’m Into” posts linked on Hopeful Leigh and if you blog you can add your own.

    What I’m Into (August 2013 Edition)

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    San Clemente pier

    I’m a bit late with this but better late than never, right? It’s been a long and busy day (I’ll blog about it later) so this edition of “What I’m Into” may be a bit light on elaboration.




    Celebrations

    This month we celebrated the life of my dear uncle. David, my mom and I flew to California for a few days in order to honor the memory of Uncle Ed.

    On a happier note, I celebrated my 51st birthday on the 27th. I had a delightful birthday dinner with the kids and three couples we’ve been friends with for years. David then took me to OKC and Dallas for a three day birthday weekend. Such fun!

    Around My Home


    Not much to report. We bought new sofas for the family room but they won’t be delivered for another 4-6 weeks.

    Reading – Books and Blogs


    Books: I finished “The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry” and it turned out to a much better book than I initially though it would be. I would definitely recommend it – just give it time to grow on you.

    After watching Midnight in Paris I decided to read “A Moveable Feast” by Hemingway. I’m not sure why I’d never read it before but I’m glad I finally did.

    I also finished the audiobook,  “Emotional Awareness: Overcoming the Obstacles to Psychological Balance and Compassion” by the Dalai Lama and Paul Eckman. I absolutely recommend this one. In fact, I’ll be purchasing a copy of the book so I can re-read passages and make notes in it. Yes, it’s one of those. 

    Blogs: This has been such a busy month that my blog reading has really slackened off. I hope to have some to suggest next month, though. 

    Watching – Movies, T.V. and YouTube

    • T.V. – I can’t think of much of anything we’ve watched on t.v. this month. I did get Upstairs, Downstairs via Netflix the other day so hopefully we’ll find time to watch that soon. 
    • Movies – I’d been wanting to go to the movies for a couple of months but whenever we had time, nothing we wanted to see was playing. However we made up for it this month. We saw The Way, Way Back which I loved. It was a sweet, coming-of-age story with a nice balance of humor and pathos. While in California we saw We’re the Millers which was about what we expected. No award winner but it served the purpose for light entertainment. Finally, we saw The Butler which was fabulous. If you haven’t seen it yet, please do. But bring tissues. 
    • YouTube – You can never watch too many cute cate videos:

           

    Listening – Music


    We’ve had some really lovely nights so David and I have sat outside, gazing at the stars and listening to music. I’ve been in the mood for soulful, blues-y sort of music so we’ve listened to a lot of Van Morrison.

             

    Food – Recipes, Restaurants and Grocery Hauls


    This has been such a busy month with lots of travel so we’ve eaten out more than usual. I do have one recipe I want to share, however:




    Random Stuff


    We traded our Prius in for a new one.

    We were given a bass guitar by a metal band.

    Annual post-Katrina post

    Upcoming blog event: Celebrating Womanhood

    ~~~~~
    Check out other “What I’m Into” posts linked on Hopeful Leigh and if you blog you can add your own. 

    What I’m Into (July 2013 Edition)

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    July has been a month of ups and downs, celebration and mourning, reconnecting and letting go. I am never in a hurry for summer to end but I must admit I am ready to bid July adieu.

    Celebrations


    July started out on a positive note with my sweet daughter’s birthday:

    My sweet Lisa - Happy 26th birthday!
    And of course there was the 4th of July which we spent watching fireworks with friends. Well, until the local goofballs started setting fires. But we did get to finish the night with live music.

    Around My Home


    For a variety of reasons there is little to report on this front. I was getting a lot of cherry tomatoes at the beginning of the month but a grasshopper invasion of biblical proportions stripped most of the leaves and the plants are struggling. I haven’t taken on any major household projects, either.

    Reading – Books and Blogs


    Books: I’ve been reading “The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry” by Rachel Joyce, which two of my readers recommended. I’m a little over halfway through and I can’t quite decide what I think of it. On the one hand, it’s rather slow and very different. But I also can’t give up on it. I need to know how the journey ends. I’ll let you know what I think when I finish it.

    I’ve also been reading “Gracious Living in a New World” by Alexandra Stoddard. I love her books and own many of them. I’ve had this one for several years but for some reason never read past the first few pages. I’m really enjoying it this go round and will have more to share about it in a future post.

    In the car I’m listening to “Emotional Awareness: Overcoming the Obstacles to Psychological Balance and Compassion” by the Dalai Lama and Paul Eckman. A little heavy at times but still quite interesting.

    Blogs: 

    Despite the fact I’ve accomplished little around the house this month, or perhaps because of that, I’ve been experiencing a surge of interest in my home. I’ve pulled out some favorite shelter magazines to browse through and I’ve been spending more time reading home-related blogs. Here are a few of my favorites:

    Watching – Movies, T.V. and YouTube

    • T.V. – Other than episodes of Frasier and Cheers I can’t recall much of anything we’ve watched this month. David managed to catch up on True Blood but I’m so far behind I’m not sure I’ll ever get back into it. 
    • Movies – We finally figured out what the movie was which we saw on our first date – Dirty Mary Crazy Larry. I ordered a copy from Amazon and we watched it. Yep, that was it. Mystery solved. While looking for it on Amazon I also checked to see if Endless Love was finally available on DVD and it was. We saw this shortly after we got married and I’d also read the book. There were elements of the story which have always reminded me of the passion David and I have for one another, as well as the attempted thwarting of young love by family (I’ll eventually get around to that part of our love story). David had managed to find a used VHS copy years ago but since we no longer have a VCR I was happy to finally find it on DVD. It’s a Korean copy but was just fine. We watched it last Friday as part of our “at home” date night. Sigh…
    • I also had the opportunity to watch “Midnight in Paris” again, this time with Lisa and Kadi as we enjoyed a nice girls afternoon. Kadi then lent me “Coco Before Chanel” which I finished watching Monday evening while David was at a meeting. Lovely movie. 
    • YouTube: This one made me cry and then made me more determined than ever to do what I can to alleviate the suffering of others. 
    Listening – Music

    I’ve been feeling nostalgic and started putting together a Spotify playlist I named, “Childhood Memories”. Simon and Garfunkel, Jim Croce, The Carpenters, Ray Charles, Glen Campbell, Gordon Lightfoot…  It’s a work in progress but if you have Spotify, you can see it here. I started looking for a copy of Simon and Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits album and when David heard I wanted it, he got on eBay and ordered an album for me. It arrived the other day and I’m going to make time to sit down and listen to it this evening. I did manage to find Cat Stevens and Steely Dan albums at a record store in Norman so they’ll be on my listening list later tonight, as well.

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    Food – Recipes, Restaurants and Grocery Hauls
    • I combined this and this, added my own touches and ended up with a delicious vegetarian casserole for dinner last night. I just had some of the leftovers for dinner this evening (David is out of town) and it is every bit as good the second time around. 
    • Last Friday for our at home date night, I made a traditional French roast chicken. Delicious!
    David and I haven’t eaten out much this month but when I was in California my cousin, Jeanne, treated me to a wonderful meal at the Savannah Chop House in Laguna Niguel. We both had the ribs with bourbon peach barbecue sauce, coleslaw and some amazing “Jalapeño Cheddar Scalloped Potatoes”. The meal was delicious and the opportunity to spend time together was truly special. 

    Farmers Market Haul:


    Out and About – Trips and Events


    I already mentioned Lisa’s birthday and the 4th of July. I also made an unplanned trip to California to help my parents drive following my uncle’s diagnosis of leukemia. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it all. You can read my posts about the trip and my uncle here:

    I never got around to blogging about it but last Wednesday I did a solo shopping trip to Norman. I went to Barnes and Noble, Bed Bath and Beyond, Victoria Secret (had some coupons!), Guestroom Records, Sprouts and Forward Foods. It had been ages since I spent a day shopping for things other than groceries. I came home with three magazines, new sheets for the guest bed, a couple of kitchen items I’ve had on my to-buy list, new bra and panties, two vinyl records, and a few grocery items. It was a rather nice day. 
    Featured Blog Posts

    Special Moments

    • helping my parents make the long drive to California
    • the opportunity to see my dear uncle one last time
    • peeling and freezing dozens and dozens of peaches for my aunt
    • making homemade peach ice cream for my dad – twice!
    • reconnecting with a cousin I don’t see very often
    • watching special movies with David
    • a few precious minutes with my feet in the ocean
    • hot dogs and banana splits with my church family on a gorgeous summer evening:

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    I think that about wraps things up for July. If you write “What I’m Into” posts I’d love for you to leave me a link in the comments so I can read yours. I’m linking up with What I’m Into at Hopeful Leigh. You can also check out my daughter’s post here.  

    What I’m Into (June 2013 Edition)

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    I’ve seen several people doing these “What I’m Into” posts recently. I’ve really enjoyed reading them so I decided I’d do it, too. Here goes:

    Around My Home


    Early in June David rented three levels of scaffolding and replaced the siding on the peak on the front of our house. This is a project he’s been working on for a few years now, saving the highest and scariest part for last. I was a nervous wreck all weekend but it’s done and there were no E.R. visits. He’s still got one little section on the side and then the balcony. It’s going to be so nice when it’s finished. He’s going to install a couple of ceiling fans and I figured out a way to have it screened in and still look nice.

    Nailing up the final piece

    I only managed to get six tomato plants planted this year and nothing else. We had late frosts and then were busy with Happyland Music Fest and recovery time and, well, that’s all I did. I also decided not to get chickens because one of David’s firefighter buddies is keeping us in eggs. He lives alone and is getting about a dozen eggs a day. I’m giving him the big bag of organic feed I bought when I still thought I’d be getting chicks in exchange for eggs. I still miss having chickens and maybe someday I’ll do it again but for now at least I have a source for good, fresh eggs. Good enough.

    Reading – Books and Blogs

    Books: I’ve had a hard time really getting into a book recently. Part of the problem is that we stay up ridiculously late and by the time we go to bed I’m too tired to read more than a couple of pages. I’m hoping to change that, by the way. But the rest of the issue was that I just wasn’t making good book selections. I checked out Anthony Bourdain’s book, “The Nasty Bits” from the library anticipating a good read. I loved his book, “Kitchen Confidential” and I really enjoy his shows. Somehow, this book just didn’t do it for me. It’s a collection of pieces he’s written for other publications and while some were very entertaining, the lack of continuing narrative failed to capture my attention. It’s the sort of book you read in short bursts so perhaps I should have put it in the bathroom. 😉 I may give it a whirl again someday but it just wasn’t what I was in the mood for.

    I did really enjoy Pat Conroy’s “South of Broad” which I listened to in the car. And I’m currently reading “The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry” by Rachel Joyce, which a couple of my readers here recommended. I’m only about 15 pages into it but I think I’m really going to like it.


    Blogs    :



    Watching – Movies, T.V. and YouTube

    • T.V. – David and I thoroughly enjoyed Mad Men this month and can’t wait for the new season. We may pick another series to watch via Netflix this summer but in the meantime we’ve been enjoying Cheers. Our daughter bought David the first three seasons for Father’s Day. It’s one of those rare shows which has really held up well over the years. We also watch The Daily Show regularly and are pleasantly surprised by how well John Oliver is filling Jon Stewart’s role while he’s away this summer.
    • Movies – I love French films and truly enjoyed “The Grocer’s Son”. Inspired by a blog I read, I ordered “The Parent Trap” via Netflix and David and I both enjoyed watching it. I’ve really been wanting to go to the movies lately and we finally had the opportunity on our anniversary. Chris and Kadi were planning to see “This is the End” and asked if we’d like to go, too. We all went out to eat first (along with a couple of the kids’ friends) and then to the show. I wasn’t sure if I’d like it but it was surprisingly entertaining.
    • YouTube: Daily Connoisseur, Thrifttasttic Mom, NotSoOrdinaryWife, Henri Le Chat Noir



    Listening – Music

    Keb’ Mo’:



    Food – Recipes, Restaurants and Grocery Hauls

    We had a couple of especially nice meals in restaurants this month:

    Out and About – Trips and Events

    June was a busy, busy month! We celebrated:

    We also:

    And we took two short trips:

    Featured Blog Posts

    I also did a blog-a-day challenge and actually managed keep up with it. I’ll be deleting the link in a day or two but for now all 30 posts are linked here. 

    Special Moments

    • star gazing and sipping wine with David on beautiful summer nights
    • watching the sun set over Lake Hefner
    • stopping to watch deer in our driveway 
    • singing around the fire pit with special friends
    • bar sing alongs
    • conversation with good friends about books, films and religion over pizza and wine
    • swimming with Lisa and Kadi
    Untitled

    Pinterest

    Keeping in touch – Bye bye, Google Reader

    Chances are if you’re an avid blog reader you know that as of last night, Google Reader is no more. I’ve known this was coming and as soon as it was announced I imported my feeds to both Bloglovin’ and Feedly. I had planned to start getting used to them before Google disappeared but habit won out. For now I’m using both and trying to decide which I like best. I’m leaning toward Feedly for a couple of reasons. First, the Feedly iPhone app is significantly better than Bloglovin’s and second, I like the fact that Feedly displays the entire blog post rather than requiring that you click on through to the original source. With my sloooowwww internet connection fewer page loads matter.

    I find a reader virtually essential for keeping up with a large number of blogs but I do know that some manage their reading in other ways (I’d love to hear your method). The important thing is that I don’t want to lose any of my readers so I hope you’ll choose a way to follow which works for you.

    You can also follow me on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Flickr. 
    Check out other “What I’m Into” posts linked on Hopeful Leigh and if you blog you can add your own.